College Football Betting Lines

Betting Lines

When a person wants to place a bet on college football they are more than likely going to be using one, or a mixture, of the three main betting types that are found on any sportsbook; these types of bets are part of the betting line. This is the most basic information that a sports bettor should know, what the betting line bets are, understanding the different aspects of them, and knowing how to calculate the payout of each. The three betting types that are part of the betting line are the Money Line, Spread, and Totals (Over/Under) bets. For the purpose of the examples and the odds, I will be using the American odds.

Understanding the Symbols

When looking at any of the odds and values given at the sportsbook and the betting lines, there are two symbols that are widely used; the + and the – symbols. The – symbol represents the Favorite, which is the team that is favored to win the match. The + symbols represents the Underdog, the team that does not seem to have much of a winning chance against the other team.

Money Line Bet

This is the most simple and straight forward bet that anyone will be able to find on any online sportsbooks. This is the original bet that everyone uses, which team will become the winner. When looking at the betting line on the sportsbook, the bettor will find them to be like this:

Time

Team

Money Line

07:00 PM

South Carolina

-120

Vanderbilt

+160

Looking at the money line, there are two very important pieces of information that can be interpreted. We can tell that South Carolina is the Favorite, while Vanderbilt is the Underdog during this match. The other piece of information is by how much better South Carolina is compared to Vanderbilt; it is all found in the values after the symbols. The value for Vanderbilt is -120, which is an ok distance from -100, and Vanderbilt is at +160, which is a fair distance from +100. This means that South Carolina has pretty good chances of winning the match based on the numbers.

Calculating the Money Line Payout

Calculating the payout based on the money line bet is extremely simple, all it takes is a little practice. There are two factors that influence the payout, the symbols and the values.

Symbol

Represents

Money Line

Calculation

Payout

–

Favorite

-120

Bet $120 to win $100

$100

+

Underdog

+160

Bet $100 to win $160

$160

The value for the Favorite determines how much a bettor has to wager in order to win $100, while the value for the Underdog is how much the bettor will win, if they wager $100.

Point Spread Bet

The point spread bet relies on the final score, since the way to determine whether a bet has won or not is dependent on how many points the winning team won by. In other words, the final point difference between the winning and losing team is what decides whether or not a bet will be paid out. It is shown as the following:

Time

Team

Spread

07:00 PM

South Carolina

-6½ -110

Vanderbilt

+6½ -110

We still know that South Carolina is the Favorite and Vanderbilt is the Underdog, and these factors influence greatly upon the point spread bet. From the values given in the spread, we can determine that South Carolina has to beat Vanderbilt by more than 7 points; as there is no way a game can have a ½ point. This is what the sportsbook and the oddsmakers are predicting that will happen. However, a bettor can choose to wager on the Favorite or the Underdog in this situation.

Factors for a Winning Bet

The bettor has two choices, to bet on the Favorite or the Underdog. Each has their specific rules determining how the bet will be won.

Bet On

Spread

Requisites for Winning

Favorite

-6½

Win the match by more than 7 points

Underdog

+6½

Win the match

Lose by less than 7 points

As you can see, bettor may have a stronger inclination towards betting on the Underdog, simply because they would have two chances at winning the bet. However, it all depends on the point spread, as that indicates how hard or easy it is for the Favorite or the Underdog to beat the spread.

The payout is calculated just like with the money line bet, based on the values after the point spread value. In this case, they are both -110, meaning that the bettor would have to bet $110 in order to win $100.

Totals (Over/Under)

The totals bet is based on the total amount of points that are scored during the match; adding up both teams scores to get the total. The addition of the Over/Under condition means that the bettor must decide whether the value given by the sportsbook is too high or too low. The bettor would choose Over, if they believe the value to be too low and the total score will be more than the value. On the other hand, the bettor would pick Under, if they believe the total score is too high and the total score will be less than the value. This is usually shown on the betting line as,

Time

Team

Totals

07:00 PM

South Carolina

Ov 45½ -110

Vanderbilt

Un 45½ -110

Obviously Ov = Over and Un = Under. Given the values of 45½ it means that the total score between the match of South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt is predicted by the sportsbook to be around 45½ points. It is up to the bettor to determine if the final total score will be more or less than that value.

The payout is calculated the same way, taking the symbol and the value. In this particular case, they are both -110, meaning that the bettor would have to bet $110 in order to win $100.